Homeless In The U.S.A.

Bloomington (USA): No justice, only fire
- December 17th, 2013 :: Ian Stark, a 24 year old man experiencing homelessness, froze to death Tuesday night in Bloomington, IN. In response, 50-70 people took the streets on Friday night with torches, banners, spray paint and fireworks to express rage over Ian’s death. The unruly mob, mostly masked up, was comprised of anarchists, anti-prison activists, students, homeless folks, social workers, and others who knew Ian.
The march held the streets for nearly two hours, covering almost all of downtown. Participants in the march disabled several dozen parking meters, wrote graffiti, paint-bombed banks, popped tires, and distributed hundreds of fliers about Ian’s death, homelessness, and policing in Bloomington. Participants also took the opportunity to run into several yuppie restaurants and rain fliers on the passive diners.

Despite several rounds of toe-to-toe conflict with uniformed police, the emergence of at least three undercovers, and interference from a mega-douchey citizen-cop during the course of the march, we stayed tight and found our way back into the streets, lighting more torches and fireworks. No one was arrested.
Ian’s death comes at a tense time in Bloomington. Conversations about policing, surveillance and homelessness are common, as the city has recently announced that the revenue from new parking meters will fund downtown police foot-patrols and new surveillance cameras. The city aims to curb the unsightly presence of homeless people downtown, redirecting them toward social services.
From a flier distributed during the march:
“…When the city unendingly talks about the “problem of homelessness in Bloomington,” they are talking about an eyesore, an abstract liability for downtown business and the ballooning dreams of developers.
When we talk about the “problem of homelessness in Bloomington,” we’re talking about constant police harassment, the veiling of poverty, and people being turned away from shelters in below zero temperatures.
In short: we’re talking about a person freezing to death.
We’re not here in the streets tonight to beg for compassion from the cops or an increased pittance from social service agencies.
As augmented police presence, surveillance and other mechanisms of social control are deployed against the most vulnerable segments of Bloomington’s population, we too feel the effects.
"Their dreams of a controlled, sanitized city will never come to pass!”

 

"as the city has recently announced that the revenue from new parking meters will fund downtown police foot-patrols and new surveillance cameras."

WTF. This world is going to shit.

 

We have more vacant/foreclosed houses in this country than we do homeless people. Odd. I recently read a story about a Utah city that is solving it's homeless population issue by.....giving them places to live. Imagine that. A logical solution.

 

Sad to think that the logical solution will be the last.

 

we have a huge tent city here. Its under a bridge in one of the wealthiest sections of town and its gotten a lot of attention in the media lately. The community has really been amazing in their response. People have brought them blankets, firewood, tents, clothes, soap, all the basics plus some luxuries too. someone brought them a fully decorated Christmas tree, someone brought them a generator and space heaters, a tv so they could watch the superbowl.

not that this will really help them get out of tent city. they need jobs and permanent lodging, but I do think its nice so many people care.

 

lots of blankets is the best and the best are wool . I rather like being homeless
because i'm wild , hopefully more like along the river of peace . towns that have
happy hobos have vitality , creativity , and health . we can live on crumbs no
troubles .

 

If you don't mind me asking...where in Iowa are you at?

 

In Fort Collins, Colorado, over 50 homeless people died last year. I knew some of them. Some died by freezing to death, and some committed suicide, or died because of medical issues and the lack of medical treatment. Some died under bridges, in culverts, on park grounds, and some in their own vehicles. They died hungry, cold, and penny-less. Fort Collins is one of the richest cities in the USA. One out of every 18 people in Colorado is a millionaire. The city and state governments do very little to help these people find affordable public housing. The ACLU does not want to help them, for a variety of irrational political reasons. I can understand what happened in Bloomington, Indiana. Peace & Light to all of you.

 

Im maybe an hour from NYC- when it gets below freezing a team of volunteers go out and tries to find and convince the homeless to please gathering thier meager belongings and spend the night in one of NY,s many shelters.
Unfortunately, you know the story...because of the violence or the general conditions of many of these places,,,many will take thier chances on the subways,,or an all nite diner (If they dont get hassled)-OK-maybe percentage have mental or substance problems, and just wont listen to reason...but most dont !...
-Its a sad commentary on our system

 

I agree,, Junglejack...I cannot stand to see the poor homeless and think of them when it is so cold....

 

The Homeless camp in Lakewood, NJ is occupied year round; people in tents, in freezing weather.

There is no homeless shelter in Ocean County. A court order mandates the campers not be hassled or driven off.

http://tentcitynj.org/

 

"If you do not want your tax dollars to help the poor--then stop saying that you want a country based on Christian Values, because you really don't!"
Frm Pres. Carter

 

wouldnt everyone want a free house now?

the homeless should go congregate somewhere warm, possibly start some sort of self-sustaining community. thatd be great. Id love to help..

more people could be helped if these homes they were giving out were sold instead for land to start a commune of sorts.

 

Having lived in the trainyard at Bloomington, Indiana for about seven years, this writer is somewhat clued-up about fascism. The first death of note was the police tazering of a man in the police station. Along these lines, we should also report that the Rollers have gotten more arrogant, and that they will show up at the dumpster with tazers to molest aluminum recyclers, this occurring qalso in Bloomington, Indiana. The gestapo style includes the fact that information-compromised youth, hormone-compromised youth, will be the ones chosen to hold the tazers, which glow red in the night. The Recruiter for terrorism at such places as Dubai are comparable. This is because the Recruiter knows that there is a secret desire to perform adequately for promotion in the ranks ("I've always wanted to be a Ghazavat Eagle."). This occurrence is akin to the British soldiers that accosted Iraqi boys when they went searching in a Baghdad dumpster. Indeed, it is at Indiana Unversity, Bloomington that one can view the original photographs of the Gestapo's captured "gypsies," or rather, Roma. Perhaps their hairstyles and clothing will come back into style.

A return to Hip Forums after some time was prompted by Yahoo's recent fascism, akin to cutting the phone lines to the house prior to a burgulary: prevention of sending e-mail from the account and prevention of posting to Yahoo Groups, in particular Acarology and Preventionbetterthancure. On the latter list, we were following Jaba's mainstream lips about the Ukraine and Kerry's blasting of North Korea. In parallel, the threads were also exposing more about the capture and execution of Che Guevara amongst other things.

Since we have mentioned G8 to occur in Sochi, the swimming pool at Benghazi linking to Chichen Itza, and the Bedford Heroin Rally of 2 Feb 2014. It is this rally that marks the location of a miscegenation linking the Chinese drug triads to the christian mafia, these linking to an employee of the Clinton law office. The deterritorilization involved in this particular miscegenation in Michigan model we now link to an important document that we hope others can obtain. Otherwise, we have it in three dimensions and can quote from it further on:

Photo Identification Barriers Faced by Homeless Persons: The Impact of September 11, A Report by the National Law Center On Homelessness and Poverty, Ap 2004.

The first thing that struck this writer was the difficulty of acquiring the key document:

American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, Enhanced Driver's License Administration, Status Report to AAMVA Membership, 2003.

We were looking for the date of this report, because Novya Gazeta's Yuri Shchekochikhin, who also worked with Anna Politkovskaya, died in 2003. This seems odd until one links another Shchikochikhin, Dmitry, to a photo of him talking to the police: he lived in the same apartment building in Colorado as James Holmes.

We will also be drawing from such articles as that now appearing in The Capital Times, Madison, Wisconsin:

The Heroin Blues: A Story of Love, Addiction and Loss

The above article mentions Espanola, New Mexico, as the opiate capital. Espanola at night is like Cotter, Arkansas at night, except for white people in the former, black people in the latter: the Hanging Bridge at Cotter is explanatory. This writer recalls sleeping near to the street in Albuquerque some years back: an Indian friend suggested we use the drainage pipes that were to go under the street, for shelter for the night. A couple walked past, not noticing us. The man: "Shoot it up, Baby, all up."

Fort Collins, Colorado was the most impresive as far as Occupy movements go, unfortunately the group returned to the famous "planning stage." The Conestoga wagons for the homeless in Eugene, Oregon, is a cynical joke.

We will be creating a list of the URLs where we have reported Yahoo's fascism. When we find a place in cyberspace to post that list, the reader can visit from time to time to see how the list is growing. Until then, suggested viewing: Sundance Film Festival "We Come As Friends" and Peter Sellers "Being There." If the root is strong and not severed, there will be growth in the spring. Because that is an Arab son now in the White House, suggested reading and viewing: Uki Goni, The Real Odessa: Smuggling the Nazis to Peron's Argentina.

 

In Eugene, Oregon, up to fifty people have lived in Whoville, a homeless camp.
It was just busted-up. the Camp is about six months old.

 

I give homeless food whenever i can.

 

Right on. This is a logical solution. The trouble with camps and tent cities is that the cops keep forcing the homeless to move on. So the only other option is homeless shelters (which never have enough beds for the growing numbers of homeless). So most wind up sleeping on the streets. Some freeze to death during the winter.

Few people want to address the fact that many homeless people are living with mental illness, and cannot get professional help because of all the health care cuts (thanks to Ronald Reagan's lack of compassion and empathy).

I remember when this national nightmare began (at the same time that Reagan did not want to support people living with AIDS). Just a bunch of addicts, gay people, and black folks in the ghetto. So why should America care? Many people still feel this way about the homeless. It only happens to "other" people - not decent middle-class Americans.

I know better: I've slept on the streets of Chicago during the middle of winter. It's a living hell, and I'm just glad I survived. And I will never judge a homeless person. I guess you have to walk more than a mile in their shoes? Then you can get to the heart and soul of such a heartbreaking situation.

QP

 

some of the deepest, kindest most beautiful souls i've met are homeless. and very often, the most fun and eccentric minds! it's sad that these are the kinds of people who often end up beat up and spit out by society.

 

All different kinds of people can be homeless, the one requirement is...

 

Here is an excellent video about homelessness

www.youtube.com/v/X0gA2mxbjSY

Wheather it is staged or not.... IF IT MADE PEOPLE STOP AND THINK,it was worth it!!